Leafs Play Spoiler in Hyman's Return

 

Photo Courtesy of The Athletic 

After having Monday’s game against Carolina postponed due to fan restrictions the Leafs were back in action against the Edmonton Oilers, now before I talk about last night’s game, I want to give my thoughts on the league postponing games in Canada. It must stop plain and simple I understand the financial impact the league faces when games are played in empty arenas. Word is the league loses around three million dollars for every game played in an empty Scotiabank Arena. Yes, last night’s game was in an empty arena, but it was a national broadcast on Sportsnet, and they have spent five billion dollars to be the leagues broadcaster in Canada but the games that are shown regionally through TSN those games need to go on as scheduled because with every game TSN doesn’t show that’s money they lose out on from advertising during their broadcasts. We all want fans back in arenas but unlike the United States who are carrying on as if the pandemic is over here in Canada whether we agree with it or not our Federal and Provincial Governments are doing what they feel is best for the safety of the Canadian people and if your league has seven teams in Canadian cities then empty arenas may just be something you as a league have to live with for the next little while.

As I said the Leafs played host to the visiting Edmonton Oilers who to say are struggling is a major understatement as heading into this matchup the Oilers had won just two of their last twelve games and to make matters worse for them Connor McDavid, Derek Ryan, and Tyson Barrie would all be entered into Covid Protocol. As you know by the title of this article this was Zach Hyman’s first game against his former team as he missed the game in Edmonton due to Covid and it was extremely unfortunate that there were no fans in the arena because if the Scotiabank Arena was full then that crowd would have given Zach the ovation, he deserved for his six years of service with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Jack Campbell would be in goal for Toronto coming off the 6-0 shutout against Ottawa and for the Oilers it would be veteran Mike Smith who had just returned from a minor injury that kept him out of the lineup for a few games.

The game would start evenly as the Leafs would attempt to pressure the shorthanded Oilers, but it would be Edmonton that would get the first dangerous scoring chance as Duncan Keith would send a stretch pass to Jesse Puljajrvi who would come in on a breakaway, but Jack Campbell would knock the puck away with a great poke check ending the Oilers hopes of opening the scoring. Just a few short minutes later the Leafs would open the scoring as Leon Draisaitl would lose the puck to William Nylander would fire a shot from the slot that would hit off the end boards and deflect into the back of the net. This goal was originally thought to belong to William Nylander which would have been his sixteenth of the season but in fact later in the game the goal was correctly awarded to John Tavares whose blade touched the puck as it came off the back boards therefore the Leafs would have a 1-0 lead thanks to Tavares’s fourteenth goal of the season.

Although the Leafs were ahead the Oilers were playing with a chip on their shoulder because they wanted badly to end their frustrating losing streak so they would continue to apply pressure on Toronto and just before the midway point of the opening period the Oilers would find themselves level. Now Ondrej Kase was out of the lineup for Toronto and ruled day to day after tweaking something while working in the gym so in his place was the returning, Nick Ritchie. On this goal Ritchie was beaten by the speed of Brendan Perlini who was driving the middle of the ice and Colton Sceviour would send a pass to Perlini whose shot would beat Jack Campbell and the Oilers would tie the game at ones thanks to his second goal of the season. The Oilers found the spark they were looking for and they would take over the first period with their play and less then two minutes later the visitors would have the lead. While in the Leafs end Warren Foegel would see his point shot blocked by TJ Brodie but with the Leafs unable to clear the zone Kyle Yamamoto would gather the puck and set up Leon Draisaitl who was on the left-wing side all alone and to no one’s surprise, he would find the back of the net for his league leading twenty sixth goal of the season. With Edmonton now leading 2-1 for the next few minutes the Oilers would swarm Toronto applying a massive amount of pressure but thankfully Jack Campbell stood tall keeping the Leafs deficit at one. It was mentioned on the broadcast that the Oilers are unbeaten when leading after the first period this season, so this game had the potential of being a real challenge for the Leafs. Late in the first period though the Leafs would give one final push before heading to the intermission and with forty seconds remaining Toronto would have a faceoff in the Edmonton zone, Keefe would then load up a line with Matthews, Nylander and Marner with the hopes of scoring a late goal. The Leafs would win the draw and Willy would send a quick pass to TJ Brodie who did the smart thing he sent his point shot into the traffic hoping for a deflection, Brodie’s decision would payoff as his shot would pinball off Evan Bouchard and then the skate of Darnell Nurse and passed Mike Smith. Brodie would collect his third goal of the season and Nylander would pick up his second assist making him become the Leafs new leader in points.

The first period would end with the teams locked at two goals each but if you’re a fan of the Leafs or even Sheldon Keefe you probably weren’t very happy with the team’s performance. Period two wouldn’t see any goals scored but that doesn’t mean there weren’t any moments where fans of both teams were holding their collective breath. Leon Draisaitl would again be left alone at the side of the Leaf goal but unlike the first period Jack Campbell was able to turn his attempt aside. There was even an attempt by the Oilers that saw Campbell swimming in his crease and with his back to the play and the top of the net the swarming Oilers would see the puck hit Campbell’s back and stay out of the net. The Maple Leafs would have a few chances of their own this period one would be from William Nylander on a breakaway, but Mike Smith would make the save the other would come on the powerplay where Mitch Marner would come in off the wing and his shot would go ringing off the post. The goal judge had a quick trigger finger as the goal horn would be going off, but the official was correctly waiving the goal off. Edmonton would also have a powerplay of their own but Toronto’s strong penalty killing would continue as they managed to keep the Oilers special teams from scoring. Period two would end with the score still tied at 2-2.

 

Period three would see the game pick up with back-and-forth action as Draisaitl would have another attempt turned aside, Hyman would then have a chance to break the tie, but his shot would go wide of the Leafs goal. Nick Ritchie would have his shot stopped. Midway through the final frame the Leafs would once again be on the man advantage as Evan Bouchard would be serving a tripping minor and after the teams top powerplay unit failed to score Coach Keefe switched to the second unit. The switch would pay off as after the Oilers won the draw, they were unable to clear the zone and Ilya Mikheyev would gather the loose puck he would then fire a wrist shot from the slot that would beat Mike Smith high on the glove side for Ilya’s third goal of the season and third goal in as many games and the Maple Leafs would once again lead this contest by a score of 3-2. Toronto now looking to hold onto this one goal would continue to work for more goals because even though McDavid is out of the lineup Leon Draisaitl is still a dangerous threat to score. The Leafs would have a great scoring chance in the final five minutes as Alex Kerfoot would come in on a breakaway his shot would beat Smith on the glove side but the goalie’s best friend the post would make a second appearance keeping the score at 3-2. In the final minute of play with Mike Smith on the bench the Oilers would make their final push searching for their third goal hoping to force overtime, but Alex Kerfoot would dash all hopes by the Oilers. After Campbell made another important save Kerfoot would take the puck just out of the Leafs end and instead of just firing the puck down the ice for a sure icing he lifted sent the puck into the air just hoping to stay in play and take more time off the clock, instead Kerfoot’s clearing attempt would be one that would make curling fans smile as the puck would end up sliding into the far corner of the Oilers net for his fifth goal of the season and his second point of the night and the Leafs would win this game by a score of 4-2 despite playing well below their best. This would be Toronto’s fourth straight win and the Oilers would head to the dressing room with frustrations mounting.

 

Final Thoughts:

 

I don’t usually give thoughts on the Leaf opponents but in this case, I feel it is necessary. With the Oilers winning just two of their last eleven games there is a lot of speculation that a coaching change could be soon happening. The name that has been mentioned by some very reliable sources in the hockey world is that of Mike Babcock. With Ken Holland as Oilers GM the link between he and Babcock is obvious because they spent ten years together in Detroit where they managed to win the latest Stanley Cup for the Red Wings. Now I want to state that I was a big fan of Mike Babcock as a coach and I was a fan of the hire in Toronto but notice the key word, was. Mike is a coach that has had success at every level in the game. He coached the Canadian Juniors to a Gold Medal in 1997, he coached the Anaheim Ducks where they won the Western Conference Championship in 2003, he coached Canada to a Men’s World Hockey Championship where they won gold in 2004, of course there’s the back-to-back Gold Medals in the Olympics and 2010 and 2014, and lastly, he coached Canada to a 2016 World Cup win in 2016. The problem with Mike is he just like many coaches of his style have an expiry date and eventually players get tired of his methods. Sure, for the first few seasons as Leaf coach things were positive with point records and franchise records but since the 2008 Cup, he had never coached a team passed the Conference Semi-Finals. Mike lost the room here in Toronto because of the mind games he played on Mitch Marner and others remember this is someone who helped recruit Jason Spezza to play in Toronto only to scratch him from the lineup in the season opener against Ottawa, Mike criticized the trade that brought Jake Muzzin to Toronto because “he doesn’t shoot right handed”

Well Mike you claim to be a great coach here’s a thought MAKE IT WORK. Mike Babcock’s biggest issue is his ego, he only worries about his success when a coach’s job is to bring the best out of his players in order for them to find success but when you listen to Mike Babcock speak in interviews if he if he isn’t answering in third person which I think is ignorant and stupid but Mike will answer things saying “when I won the Cup or when I won in the Olympics” it was never “when we won” Mike doesn’t seem to grasp the fact that he didn’t win the Cup in Detroit they players did they played the game he just happened to have an all star team full of talent that was able to get passed Pittsburgh. He is a coach that barely coached his team to a win over Latvia in the Quarterfinals and then the squeaked by the Americans in the Semi’s in the Sochi Tournament. The bottom line for fans of the Edmonton Oilers who happen to see this article if Mike Babcock becomes the next Oilers coach, then I would really feel sorry for you because sure things may start out positive for your beloved team and if you don’t believe me just ask Tyson Barrie what his experience was like after just one season for Babcock.

Toronto’s next game now comes Saturday night as they travel to Denver to square off against the Avalanche because Friday’s game in Montreal is postponed, Thanks as always for reading.